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April 23, 2015

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Attitudes & Behavior, Family, Friends & Fellowship, God's Plan, Love & Works

GOING TO WORK

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. [Romans 12:1 (MSG)]

When people asked me what I did, I’d often reply, “I’m just a homemaker.” But we’re never just a housewife or only a bus driver or merely a waiter. Do we ever demean the work God has given us simply because it lacks a large paycheck or status? Even those of us who are retired or unemployed have been given valuable work to do; we’re just no longer paid to do it. The work we do never defines us; how we do that work, however, does!

All work is honorable, whether we’re saving lives as EMTs or wiping children’s bottoms and noses, designing skyscrapers or laying tile, teaching the ABC’s or preaching the gospel. There’s as much dignity in packing groceries as in managing the grocery store, in bussing tables as in being a gourmet chef, and in sweeping an auditorium as in conducting a symphony orchestra. Our work has importance whether we oversee the finances of a multi-million dollar corporation or manage to feed a family of five on a tight budget, whether we appease irate customers or calm a toddler in the midst of a melt-down, and if we teach calculus or help fifth graders understand fractions. To God, the pilot of a 747 is no more important than the driver of a mini-van doing car-pool duty. The song offered by a diva in a concert hall is no more beautiful to Him than the humming of a maid as she mops floors. Our work is not who we are; it is simply what we do. Work does more than bring a paycheck; our work is an offering to God. As His servants, we want to give Him our best. After all, He offers the greatest benefit package known to man!

Bless the work of our hands, O Lord. Guide us so that we are useful and industrious and give us joyful hearts as we labor.

And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do! [Psalm 90:17 (MSG)]

(Don’t worry! The photo is from a simulated rescue at a Swiss street fair.)

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March 20, 2015

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Attitudes & Behavior, Challenges & Difficulty, Family, Friends & Fellowship, God's Grace & Love, Holidays & Holy Days, Joy, Nature, Today: Make it Count

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER – for the First Day of Spring

O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night. Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry. For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near. … My eyes are blinded by my tears. Each day I beg for your help, O Lord; I lift my hands to you for mercy. [Psalm 88:1-3,9 (NLT)]

Psalm 88, written by Heman the Ezrahite, was sung to a tune called “The Suffering of Affliction.” Clearly not a light-hearted ditty, this likely could be the most depressing of all the psalms. Written in a state of despair, the only glimmer of hope in the psalm is that the psalmist chose to pray at all. And pray he did, as he poured out his concerns and sorrow to God, the god of his salvation.

Last month, we went walking in a snow storm. It looked like a Psalm 88 kind of day: bleak and dreary with no hope of spring. Except for our parkas and the lone fox we surprised, we could have been in a black and white photograph. As we walked, my mind kept echoing the words, “In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.”

I remembered a friend’s comment about the way she once viewed life. Bereaved and emotionally numb after some distressing years, she saw the world only in black, white and various shades of grey. Regardless of the weather outside, she remained stuck in a bleak midwinter. While the calendar tells us when seasons change and winter turns to spring, there is no designated date for spring when one is experiencing an emotional winter in life.

Eventually, after making a concerted effort to move out of the bleakness of winter, spring arrived for my friend. Once again she saw the world in its amazing Technicolor. As she prayed, her faith strengthened and she moved out of isolation into God’s love. She cautiously stepped out of her lonely sorrow and into new friendships. With the warmth of God’s love and Christian fellowship, she again grew and blossomed, much as a spring flower does after winter. As color came back into her life, she brought color into the lives of those she met.

Jesus brought sight to the blind; not all the blind, however, are visually impaired. Many, like my friend, are temporarily blinded by their tears. If that is you, reach out to God in prayer and to your brothers and sisters in Christ. If not, do you know someone who needs the warmth of Christian fellowship to break the ice in their hearts? Is there someone who needs to experience some of God’s loving grace so they can, once again, experience spring and the world in full color? Is there someone who needs to know the rest of the song’s words: that the answer is in Jesus Christ?

“In the Bleak Midwinter” [Christina Rossetti (1872)]

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ. …
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness. [Isaiah 29:18 (NLT)]

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February 26, 2015

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Attitudes & Behavior, Family, Friends & Fellowship, Love & Works, Obedience, Sharing Our Faith

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” … The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” [Luke 10:27,29 (NLT)]

“Where is she coming from?”…“How could anyone in his right mind think that?”…“How bizarre!”…“Would you look at that?”…“They’re so different.”…”She’s weird!” We’ve all had reactions like that to various people; some may even had reactions like that to us! It’s challenging to think of them as our neighbors and we’re pretty sure we wouldn’t want them living next door!

God loves everyone, so why is it so difficult for us? We don’t seem to have a problem loving ourselves, but it’s loving others that poses the problem. Naturally, it is easier to love those who are more like us. There’s a commonality; we may share similar experiences or ethnic backgrounds. Perhaps we enjoy the same authors, live near one another, have similar interests, or attend the same church. We can better understand why they speak, think, eat, dress, worship, or relax the way they do. Being pretty practiced at loving ourselves, it is easier to think of people who think, look and act like us as neighbors and to love them (at least a little bit).

The love part, however, gets increasingly more difficult the less like us someone happens to be. In fact, sometimes we’re needlessly afraid of people simply because they’re different. They may not speak our language, look like us, or even eat the same food. Like it or not, however, most of the world’s population is not like much like us. Or is it? We all share one thing for sure: God’s love for each and every one of us! That’s something we all have in common with more than seven billion people. Since nearly a third of them are Christian, we share the love of Jesus with a good number of them, as well.

Father in heaven, God of love, help us see the similarities rather than the differences among your children. Replace any judgment in our hearts with understanding, any anger with forgiveness, and any anxiety with confidence. Trade our pride with humility, our pettiness with generosity, and our self-centeredness and selfishness with love so that we treat everyone as a “neighbor.”

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? … Won’t you be my neighbor? [Fred Rogers, “Won’t You be My Neighbor?”]

The Bible makes this clear. Be as loving as you can, as often as you can, for as many people as you can, for as long as you live. Why should we do this? Because. [Kate Braestrup]

For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” [Galatians 5:14 (NLT)]

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February 14, 2015

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Attitudes & Behavior, Family, Friends & Fellowship, Holidays & Holy Days, Love & Works, Thanks & Praise

FOR THOSE WE LOVE – Valentine’s Day 2015

“Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’” And he said, “‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” [Matthew 19:4-6 (NLT)]

Father, thank you for my spouse; please don’t let me take my life’s partner for granted. Prevent us both from allowing the obligations and frustrations of each day hinder us from making time for one another. Give us forgiving hearts when the other’s words or actions cause anger or grief. May we never allow people or things to keep us from walking the same path, hand in hand, for the rest of our lives.

Father, for those who are not blessed with a partner at this time, give them plenty of friends and family to fill their hearts and lives with love and joy.

In every marriage more than a week old, there are grounds for divorce. The trick is to find, and continue to find, grounds for marriage. [Robert Anderson]

Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. [1 Peter 4:8 (NLT)]

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. [Ephesians 4:2-3 (NLT)]

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February 7, 2015

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Attitudes & Behavior, Church & Worship, Family, Friends & Fellowship, Love & Works, Sharing Our Faith

A NEW WAY TO SERVE

The twelve apostles called all the disciples together and told them, “It’s not right for us to give up God’s word in order to distribute food. So, brothers and sisters, choose seven men whom the people know are spiritually wise. We will put them in charge of this problem. [Acts 6:2-3 (GW)]

The office of deacon was established early in the New Testament church to make sure food was distributed to widows and others in need. A good friend is a Presbyterian deacon and, according to The Presbyterian Deacon: An Essential Guide, he is to “exhibit within the church and before the world the exemplary moral authority of sympathy, witness and service after the example of Jesus Christ.” At a recent deacon’s meeting, while offering the evening’s devotion, he spoke of their calling to be the caring arm of the church and of the various ways they fulfill their mission. They typically drive people to worship or Bible study, bring food when someone is ill, visit shut-ins, and welcome visitors. My deacon friend pointed out that many of the struggles faced by their congregation are quite different from the ones faced in the past. He questioned whether their old ways of serving were still effective. Challenging his fellow deacons to think “outside of the box” and to try new ideas, he said, “We are only limited by our own imaginations.”

Another friend recently shared how she helped an elderly woman in Hospice care. Her story illustrates the new problems faced by our church family and the new methods that can be used to meet them. Using her business and Internet savvy, she arranged for automatic bill payments for the woman’s expenses and cancelled services no longer needed. She set up online accounts, established passwords, and answered security questions. She now has online access to her friend’s medical records and bills and can finally make sense of the stacks of paper that have accumulated during this long illness. I’m sure her sick friend would have appreciated a visit from a church member but getting her personal business in order was far more important. It had become overwhelming, especially since Internet knowledge has become essential to doing it.

Until hearing this story, I hadn’t considered how daunting the Internet can be for others, especially the elderly. Many people still don’t use smart phones or computers. Moreover, many of those who do are hopelessly lost beyond email, FaceTime or Facebook. Increased dependence on computerization for important communication is just one of the new challenges faced by many in our church family.

We don’t need to be deacons to be the caring arms of our churches. We all have been given the task of ministering to the ill, those in want, those without family or friends, and those enduring hardships. Jesus called on all of us to serve, not just a select few. Let’s never allow the limit of our imaginations limit the ways we minister to those in need. Is there something you can do for someone? Is there some unique way you can serve?

Devotions of the Heart

Daily Christian Devotions

Category Archives: Family, Friends & Fellowship

GOING TO WORK

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. [Romans 12:1 (MSG)]

And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do! [Psalm 90:17 (MSG)]

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER – for the First Day of Spring

In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness. [Isaiah 29:18 (NLT)]

FOR THOSE WE LOVE – Valentine’s Day 2015

Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. [1 Peter 4:8 (NLT)]

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. [Ephesians 4:2-3 (NLT)]

GOING TO WORK

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. [Romans 12:1 (MSG)]

And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do! [Psalm 90:17 (MSG)]

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER – for the First Day of Spring

In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness. [Isaiah 29:18 (NLT)]

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” … The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” [Luke 10:27,29 (NLT)]

For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” [Galatians 5:14 (NLT)]

FISHERS OF MEN

Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” [Matthew 4:19 (NLT)]

“Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” [Luke 5:10b (NLT)]

FOR THOSE WE LOVE – Valentine’s Day 2015

Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. [1 Peter 4:8 (NLT)]

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. [Ephesians 4:2-3 (NLT)]

A NEW WAY TO SERVE

The twelve apostles called all the disciples together and told them, “It’s not right for us to give up God’s word in order to distribute food. So, brothers and sisters, choose seven men whom the people know are spiritually wise. We will put them in charge of this problem. [Acts 6:2-3 (GW)]

Each of you as a good manager must use the gift that God has given you to serve others. [1 Peter 4:10 (GW)]